Snackbacon

Wow those plecos look awesome. It never ceases to amaze me how many cool looking plecos there are out there.

Absolutely gorgeous fish! I would love to see more pictures as they grow!

I think hillstream loaches are really cool. I have one right now and I love watching him shuffle around the tank. That being said, there is a chance if you have 2 in a small tank, that one might end up bullying the other one. Here is a paragraph regarding this point: How many hillstream loaches can be kept together? Most people only get one because they’re more expensive and can cost around $15 each. We recommend getting just one or a group of three or more. If you get two, the stronger one may bully the weaker one over food or territory. Males like to scuffle with each other, circling round and round trying to get on top of their opponent, but no bodily harm is done. To reduce aggression levels, make sure to provide more decorations or aquarium plants to block line of sight. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/hillstream-loaches#:~:text=We recommend getting just one,no bodily harm is done

Thank you for your insight. Very good points that I didn't consider!

I was a little unlucky with my co op heaters, but I really liked them. I haven't decided what direction I want to go with my heaters moving forward, but I'm considering this one as well, even knowing the failure rate.

Don't forget to get some fertilizer for your plants as well. I would personally lean toward making it a pea puffer tank, but that is only because that is next on my wishlist 🙂

I have a couple tanks set up for guppy breeding, and I haven't had any issues with male aggression toward other males. I think you would be ok with keeping it with other guppy males, but if you are set on trying something else, maybe something like neon tetra would work in a small tank.

They will be fine in a 10 gallon, but as others have said, they would thrive in a larger tank. The frequency of water changes you'll need to do will partially depend on how planted the tank is. It's a good idea to constantly test your water when starting out to see how often nitrates/nitrites/ammonia build up in your aquarium. You'll start to find out a "routine" get set with how long you can go without doing water changes. If you haven't, you can read up on the nitrogen cycle to explain the process. https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/nitrogen-cycle Don't stress out too much and make sure to have fun with it. That's what the hobby is for 🙂

I have panda garra in 2 tanks and neither have eaten bba. My florida flagfish haven't touched it either. Probably just varies from fish to fish.

I have cherry shrimp in 3 of my 5 tanks (one of which is a shrimp only tank that I use as my shrimp breeder tank). I don't feed a "shrimp specific" food for mine. The ones with fish in them are fed xtreme nano pellets and/or xtreme krill flake. The breeder tank doesn't get fed that often and they thrive off the stuff growing inside. It's heavily planted with anacharis. Judging by the wide range of comments, I think you can get by with feeding them almost anything.

I have my tank at 75 degrees. I started with 6 and now I have 15+ from them breeding.

That is interesting. Not being able to eat them in mass quantities would be something to consider. I'd get to keep some fry and the population managed.

I do give some away, but I wouldn't mind having the additional help of something eating them.

Another thought I just had, I also could consider just moving my cherry shrimp to my 20g long. I currently have some in both tanks, but could move them all over.

It would be fine if some of the smaller shrimp got picked off. I think there is enough cover that they wouldn't all get eaten. As long as the bigger shrimp are fine, I would be happy.